Miguel Oliveira has won the Moto2 race in Valencia, the final race of the Honda-powered Moto2 era. Iker Lecuona took his maiden podium in the intermediate class to finish 2nd, and Alex Marquez rounded off the podium in 3rd.
Just as the Moto3 race, this race ran in wet and tricky conditions. No rain was falling but the track was still slippery and it was easy to make a mistake. Consequently, it was another crash-riddled race, with the conditions catching out several riders.
Luca Marini started the race from pole position but dropped to 4th off the line. At turn 2 on the first lap, Marini lost the front and crashed, as did Joan Mir and consequently Lorenzo Baldassarri. This incident caused several riders to go wide and lose time, including 2018 world champion Francesco Bagnaia. Bagnaia was tagged by his teammate Marini when he fell but managed to stay upright, re-joining the race in 23rd position. He eventually made his way back up to finish 14th.
Marquez quickly made his way to the front at the start of race, passing Oliveira for the lead and immediately pulling a gap. He was comfortable at the front, continually setting fastest laps and maintaining a gap of 1.5-2 seconds to Oliveira. Despite the rhythm he had found and the lead he had, Marquez made a mistake and crashed out. He managed to carry on and re-joined in 3rd place, as a result of how far ahead the top 3 were from Mattia Pasini in 4th.
Xavi Vierge was another rider that was thought to be competitive from what we’ve seen so far this weekend, with the potential to be on the podium or win the race. However, he didn’t look as comfortable as the other leading riders and crashed out of 3rd place in the first half of the race. This promoted Lecuona to the podium positions.
Fabio Quartararo made an amazing recovery to 6th place after stalling his bike prior to the warm-up lap and consequently starting the race from the very back of the grid. Remy Gardner also finished a career best 5th place.
2018 Moto2 Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana – Race Result:
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